This invention relates to floor treating machines and more particularly to vertical axis machines for working a cleaning agent into a carpeted floor surface.
Heretofore, various processes have been employed for cleaning carpeted floor surfaces. These processes have used liquid cleaning solutions and dry cleaning compositions. The dry compositions, while typically containing large amounts of liquid such as water and organic solvents, are basically in a powder form. Dry powder cleaning methods possess certain inherent advantages over the wet cleaning methods. The wet methods have certain drawbacks since the solution may damage the carpet fibers or cause shrinkage of the carpet material if improperly applied. The apparatus used with wet processes has generally been bulky and cumbersome. Such apparatus, for example, may include a vacuum source, a solution supply tank, a solution collection tank and a hand-held wand. The hand-held wand may include agitator brushes, one or more spraying nozzles and a suction nozzle to remove the soiled solution from the carpet surface.
With dry powder cleaning processes, the moist coherent cleaning composition is applied over the carpet surface and agitated or worked into the surface. After the powder is brought into contact with the carpet fiber, the powder and removed dirt is lifted from the floor surface by application of a vacuum. As stated above, cleaning powders typically contain a liquid such as water, organic solution or other solvent. The liquid content of the powders can affect their spreadability since the powders tend to agglomerate or pack together. Examples of such coherent cleaning powders may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,418,243 to Hoxie, entitled ART OF CLEANING CARPETS and issued on Dec. 24, 1968, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,594 to Froehlich, entitled POWDERED CLEANING COMPOSITION OF UREA-FORMALDEHYDE and issued on Mar. 22, 1977.
Various types of equipment have been developed for distributing and working cleaning powders into a carpeted surface. Examples of such specially developed machines may be found in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 921,194, filed July 3, 1978, in the name of Bessinger and entitled CARPET CLEANING MACHINE; U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,662 to Dana, entitled FEEDER FOR COHERENT PARTICULATE MATERIAL and issued on Apr. 26, 1977; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,590 to Brown, entitled DEVICE FOR SCRUBBING CARPET and issued on Feb. 6, 1979.
As an alternative, the dry powder compositions may be spread on a carpet surface and then worked into the surface with a vertical axis floor treating machine of the floor polisher type. Once the composition is worked into the surface, a conventional vacuum cleaner can be used to remove the cleaning composition from the carpet. When cleaning floor surfaces in this manner, an applicator such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,240 to VanderVeer et al, entitled DRY RUB SHAMPOO APPLICATOR and issued on Dec. 6, 1966, may be used. The applicator disclosed in this patent basically includes a housing defining a hopper and a pair of rollers having resilient coverings. The rollers dispense the dry powder onto the carpet surface when the applicator is pushed over the surface.
Vertical axis machines having a brush attached thereto may then be used to work the powder into the carpet. It has been found that the entire weight of the machine cannot be supported on the brushes for proper operation. If the entire weight is supported on the brushes, damage to the carpet surface can result. Also, excessive loads could be placed on the motor of the polisher and control problems could be experienced. As a result, it has been proposed to support the weight of the vertical axis machine on wheels or casters or to use a separate attachment support or cradle. The attachment, when secured to the floor polisher, supports most of the weight of the machine. The attachment also controls brush aggressiveness. A drawback of using vertical axis machine and prior supports relates to a lack of confinement of the powder. The rotating brush can "throw" the powder over the carpet. Examples of such attachments or vertical axis floor machine supports may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,640,211 to Petersen, entitled RUG SCRUBBING MACHINE and issued on June 2, 1953; U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,380 to Walther, entitled CASTER ASSEMBLY FOR A CONVERTIBLE FLOOR CLEANING MACHINE and issued on July 1, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,419 to Okun, entitled TOOL FOR FLOOR TREATING MACHINE and issued on Aug. 20, 1968; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,459 to Wulff, entitled CARPET BRUSH ATTACHMENT FOR A FLOOR TREATING MACHINE and issued on Feb. 5, 1980.
A need exists for a vertical axis machine and support attachment which is durable in use, readily attachable and detachable, confines the powder to a given area and which is relatively easy to manufacture.